


I've Missed You

by Musetotheworld



Series: Tumblr Prompt Fills [9]
Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: F/F, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-06
Updated: 2017-02-06
Packaged: 2018-09-22 08:17:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,536
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9595874
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Musetotheworld/pseuds/Musetotheworld
Summary: Cat comes back to national city to find nothing quite fits anymore. So many things have changed, and so many things stayed the same. But maybe there are even more changes to be found.





	

**Author's Note:**

> angsty supercat prompt with a happy ending. cat comes back from diving and is hurt when she finds out maggie and lena know her identity but kara still hasnt told cat...

It feels strange being back in National City after being gone for so long. Nothing has changed, but Cat doesn't feel quite the same amount of comfort in the skyline. It's the same as she remembers, yet every time she looks she expects it to be different. She's changed and grown, and it seems wrong that the city hasn't changed with her.

Cat feels almost as if the city has let her move on, let her distance herself. As if it no longer claims her as one of its own. Maybe she shouldn't have returned, should have continued to explore the world, but she'd always intended to come back. This is her home, the place she'd built her success, and leaving it had always been temporary. Anything else had been unthinkable.

As she settles back into old haunts and routines, Cat wonders if maybe it isn't the city that's the problem, but the people.

Oh, some of them are just the same as she remembers. The board is still self-serving, upset once more at her presence and ability to derail their schemes. Her employees are either familiar faces or familiar types. There are no real differences to be found there, even if there are different people filling the roles now.

But others have changed just as much as she had. Carter has grown into a confident young man, and she’s happy to once again be in the same city to see how he’s changed. Their visits and trips over the time she’s been gone have been wonderful, but she’d missed him fiercely while they were apart. She hadn’t wanted to drag him away from his school and the city he knew best just because she’d gotten stir crazy. It wouldn’t have been fair to him.

She barely recognizes Kara when they meet in the CatCo bullpen. She’s confident, self-assured, secure in who she is in a way Cat had always hoped she would become. She’s finally realized her strength as Kara Danvers and not just as Supergirl. And as much as Cat wishes she’d been there to see the transformation, there’s something to be said for seeing the contrast.

Supergirl is even more the darling of the city than she’d been when Cat left, saving the day with an ease that makes her early mistakes seem as if they must have been made by someone else. Now she moves with the careless grace of a trained fighter and superb tactician, always in the right place at the right time. She’s better than her cousin has ever dreamed of being, and Cat wishes they were still close enough that she could tell Kara that.

Which is why it stings when she sees Supergirl and her group of ever present agents after the latest save, because in that group is the sister (and honestly how they could have expected her to not put the clues together after Myriad is beyond Cat) as usual, but also an NCPD detective and of all people Lena Luthor.

Now, there could be any number of reasons for the detective to be there, and from the way she and the sister stare at each other Cat doesn’t need a map to find her way to that conclusion. But Lena Luthor?

Sure, Cat doesn’t have anything against the woman on her own; there’s been no sign over the years that she’s anything like the rest of her family. And Cat can definitely understand belonging to a family that doesn’t define you.

It’s jealousy, Cat finally decides. Because the visible comradery between the four women speaks of long familiarity and the absence of secrets. There’s a bond there, one that Cat doesn’t share. One that Cat doesn’t know whether she ever could. But she regrets the fact that she’d never really tried to find it, and in her place had stepped forward two others, whether both as friends or one as something more.

She is glad to see Kara hovering off the edge of her balcony later that evening, once the city is quiet around them. She may not have the hero’s complete trust, but it’s clear that there’s still something between them. Leftover loyalty, if nothing else.

“We’ve missed you in National City, Miss Grant,” Kara says, and Cat nearly shivers at how confident she sounds like this. Before, the confidence had always seemed like a mask, just as much as costume as her suit. But now Kara is confident in truth, posture comfortable and relaxed as she watches Cat with a small smile, waiting for an invitation to land.

“So formal, Supergirl,” Cat teases, waving her down. “I seem to recall you using my name the last time we spoke.”

Kara lands softly next to her, and Cat turns from looking out over the city to study the hero from up close, without distraction. “I believe you then tried to get my name out of me,” Kara teases, and Cat feels her stomach drop, just a little.

“Oh, you know me. I had to at least try before flying off into the unknown.” It’s a deflection, one Cat wouldn’t have dare tried before she’d left, but hopefully it’s been long enough that Kara no longer knows each of her tells.

“You’ve done great work out there, Cat. Helped a lot of people.” Kara sounds genuinely impressed, and Cat takes a moment to preen at the admiration.

It’s not every day a superhero pays you a compliment, after all.

“I suppose you inspired me, Supergirl. Gave me a direction when I needed one.” Cat longs to tell Kara that she knows, that this secrecy is ridiculous, but she holds back. She’s never gotten anywhere by pushing before, and this would undoubtedly be the same. No, Kara hasn’t trusted her, and Cat is just going to learn to live with that.

“I’m glad that direction finally pointed you back here. The city really has missed you. I’ve missed you. There are so many times I could have used your advice.”

“You seemed perfectly happy with your support squad earlier,” Cat can’t help tossing out, careful to keep any barb from her voice. She may be hurting, still working on that whole acceptance thing, but there’s no reason to take it out on Kara. “You have people who have supported you, you didn’t need me.”

Kara turns to the balcony with a sigh, looking out over the city as if she’s debating what to say. How much she can share with Cat before they find the edge of that trust between them. Which words can be spoken and which need left unsaid a little longer.

“It hasn’t been the same,” Kara finally admits in a quiet voice, still looking at the city. “Cat, you always knew exactly what to say, exactly how to help me. You weren’t afraid to criticize me when I needed it either. You pushed me, and because of that I’ve been able to help people in ways I never thought I could. And the time that you’ve been gone, I’ve missed that. I think I did need it, at least a little.”

The raw honesty in Kara’s voice pushes Cat’s hurt away, and just this once she decides to take a risk. She thinks Kara needs her to, that the hero knows this step between them needs taken, but lacks the courage or ability to take it herself.

“You’ve done amazing things even with my absence, Kara. You’ve grown into a greater hero than I expected when you first put on that cape. Whether I’d been here or not, this is your story, and you made it your own.” Kara doesn’t flinch as her name drops from Cat’s lips, just looks at her with a wry smile.

“I never did fool you, did I?” she asks. “You always saw more of who I am than anyone else.”

“You called it my superpower,” Cat says as she steps to Kara’s side, taking the same place at Kara’s side she had so long ago. “How could I not have realized it was you?”

“I’m sorry I kept it from you,” Kara starts to apologize, but Cat raises a hand to stop her.

“You had very good reasons. And it was a long time ago. No need to drag the issue up again.” Now that Kara has trusted her, Cat’s earlier hurt is fading away. There’s no reason to be jealous any longer, because no matter what else is going on between any of the women she’d observed, she knows Kara believes in her.

“I still feel like I should make it up to you,” Kara pushes, leaning just slightly closer as her eyes drop to Cat’s lips before jumping back up to her eyes. “Can I take you to dinner? Being a reporter pays more than being your assistant did, I can swing a decent restaurant now.”

There’s no confirmation that it’s a date, but Cat can’t stop the flutter in her stomach at the thought of sharing an evening with Kara. It’s another long buried hope that Cat never expected to see realized. But if she can learn the truth of Kara’s identity, then maybe anything can happen.

“I’d like that very much.”


End file.
